Ringa ringa roses
by Merucha
Summary: Series of one-shots, based on ominous letters regarding each member of Young Justice.   Will include every member, I just put Dick/Wally because they'll probably make a lot of appearances. Dark!fic, I feel kind of bad making teenagers go through all that.
1. Baa baa black sheep

**So here's the gist; I will have one chapter for every member, and probably at least two of the mentors. I warn you, this will get dark. First up is Artemis, and a pretty harmless chapter.**

M'gann curiously shuffled trough the mail. All the bills, ads, and magazines were fascinating to her, since on Mars most things were transmitted telepathically. They seldom got personal letters, though once in a while someone would get a birthday card, a greeting from someone far away, or even an invitation.

M'gann stopped shuffling at the sight of a neatly folded, pure white letter.

No stamps, no signing, only 'ARTEMIS' written in a very precise, slightly festive hand.

M'gann knew better than to go through someone's mail, so she flew off to hand Artemis her letter.

I wonder what it says?

Artemis was pouring milk into a glass when M'gann softly floated by, looking around a bit before sighting her. The Martian's entire green-freckled face lit up in an innocent smile as she changed course and flew over.

"Here you are, Artemis! You got a letter. It doesn't say from whom, but I'll bet it's very personal since your name is written by hand, see?" M'gann rambled and pointed at the ink black name in the precise middle of the envelope.

Artemis shrugged and went to get a knife to tear it open. After all, she almost never got letters. She might as well treasure this one.

Taking the content from its envelope, Artemis found not a folded piece of paper, but a small, exactly envelope-sized one, totally blank.

Artemis frowned and turned it, trying to ignore the watchful stare of M'gann.

Correction, it wasn't blank. On the behind was a carefully structured and neatly written poem.

Before she got a chance to read it, a voice next to her ear made her jump. "Ooh, blondie got a love poem? Cute." Wally sipped his juice box, paying no heed to Artemis's glare and M'gann's wide eyes.

"Wally! I told you I hate it when you do that!"

"Why else do you think I do it, hun?" Wally smirked at her, making her fume more.

"Uh, guys, I don´t think this is a love poem. Well, I wouldn't know because honestly earth people sometimes confuse me with their ways, but this doesn't seem very romantic." M'gann stopped the battle of stares, bringing their attention back to the letter.

Wally, the speedster already done reading, muttered a "The hell?" next to her, prompting her even further to start reading on her own.

_Baa baa, black sheep_

_Have you any secrets?_

_Yes sir, Yes sir, _

_About three buckets._

_I lied about my being_

_I earned my teammate's trusts_

_And let my ambitions and dreams be crushed._

M'gann seemed just as confused as Wally, but Artemis was not.

Not confused.

Maybe a bit scared.

It may have been her guilty imagination playing with her, but she was pretty sure someone was hinting at her secret, the one her teammates didn't know of.

She was the daughter of a criminal, one that was forgotten but still dangerous. Roy had an inkling, and only let it be because Batman and green Arrow knew everything and decided to keep it a secret. As far as they knew, she used to do work for her father, forced by him to commit crimes for his gain.

What Batman and her 'uncle' didn't know, was that she was still in touch with him…and still serving him. Secretly.

"I know that one, it's a nursery rhyme. Though someone obviously changed it…What's he mean by 'secrets', Arty? Or, y'know, I guess it could be a she…" Wally trailed off, awaiting her response.

Artemis tried to lie, terrible as she was at it, but choked on her words. M'gann had shaken the envelope while contemplating what that odd poem could mean, and out had fallen a picture,

A picture of Artemis and a Mr. Crock walking and speaking in a bad-neighbourhood street.

Wally snatched the picture before she could.

"Who's that guy? That your dad? 'Cause he has the same hair, and kinda the same eyes too."

Artemis desperately tried to grab the picture, but Wally was taller than her, so he simply held it up. "What's with you? It's just a picture."

"What's going on here?"

Oh no.

Artemis swallowed.

Oh, no no no. Why now?

Ollie, known as Green arrow and her uncle, walked into the kitchen, seeming amusedly surprised at the scene. He probably thought it was just kids playing around, being all sibling-like.

He had no idea.

Artemis could only watch as he took the picture form Wally's hands, the speedster not daring to make a move to snatch it back from the man he knew so 's pleasant face changed from amused, to confused, to angry.

"Artemis?" he sounded. Artemis said nothing, and could do little but shake her head.

"Artemis. What is this?" he asked louder, tearing his eyes away from the piece of paper and to the gray eyes of his trainee.

"I-I, I…" Artemis stuttered, on the verge of tears.

Wally looked back and forth the two, seeming completely lost about what was going on. M'gann looked worried, wringing her hands together.

"ARTEMIS!" Ollie finally bellowed, scaring all of them into taking a few steps backwards. Wally was shocked now, squeezing the half-full juice box, M'gann borderline horrified.

"M-mister Arrow, what-"

She could say no more as Ollie grabbed Artemis's arm and harshly guided her away. A question from Wally was silenced with a move of the hand before he'd even asked.

Ollie contacted Batman, leaving the young archer's two teammates in shocked silence.

_Baa baa, black sheep._

"You don't understand, he has a hold over my mother! He'll kill her!"

Artemis's muffled voice reached J'onn as he walked over to Batman, who was standing outside of Artemis's room. Inside, Ollie was talking with her about her father and their companionship. The argument had gotten rather loud over the past minutes.

"So it is true? She has not been true to her identity?" J'onn questioned in his usual husky but calm voice.

Batman only nodded, staring in front of himself.

Why hadn't he seen it? Had he been blinded by her crocodile tears as she'd explained to them how her shady past was behind her?

J'onn seemed to get the general gist of Batman's thoughts, even when he wasn't reading his mind. He put a solemn hand on his shoulder, a gesture of comfort and understanding.

"I fear the child does not know her own intentions, Batman. Perhaps we need to see this with her eyes." he mused.

Batman rumbled something, wondering whether to trust his thoughts with this man. J'onn was decent enough, but Batman was just not the type who shared."What I'm wondering is who sent the letter?" J'onn raised a non-existent eyebrow, implying to continue.

Batman handed him the matter, along with the photograph that had started everything.

The Martian read over it, frowning slightly afterwards."No indication?" he asked, not needing to say more than that.

"None." Batman answered, leaving both of them in a worried silence.

Someone was watching.

**So, this is the first one. Does someone want me to continue? 'Cause I do…**

**Rhyme used; Baa Baa Black sheep**


	2. Aqua eyes, Aqua eyes

**Getting darker now. Aqualad is in this chapter. **

**Rating: I'd say T, but I'm not sure just how sensitive people are.**

* * *

><p>About three days after Artemis had been dispatched from the team, the rest of the kids were still having a hard time swallowing the news.<p>

To believe that one of them was, no matter the reasons she had, a traitor, was just difficult to believe.

Not unexpectedly, Wally had tried to defend her to some level.

"But she must have had a legit reason, right? And it's not like this harmed us in any way, since we didn't even notice or anything."

Truth be told, he did have a point. As it turned out, since they'd all pressed the League members for answers, her father had some sort of hold over her mother, who was crippled and easy to get to. Artemis, normally logically thinking and cool-headed, was so terrified of the power her father possessed she didn't dare to disobey. Years of him being superior, a master to her, had rendered her almost defenseless.

Although her teammates didn't know this, J'onn had also ventured into her mind to see just how far she'd gone with being his underling, and it was obvious she'd hated every second of being in close proximity with him. Although most of the League members understood this, they still couldn't let her back on the team just so soon. She'd be away for a while, and it all depended on her behaviour how soon she'd come back.

"None the less, she did not trust us enough to share this information with us, or to even ask for help. It is clear she does not see us as intimate teammates." Kaldur retorted, hating the way he had to play the bad guy, as always when it came to thinking for the team. He himself wanted nothing more than to help the girl, but as a leader, he had to set an example. Had they not found out things could have gotten worse, even ended as a casualty of someone in the team. That was all he needed to assure himself this wasn't something so easily forgivable.

Wally slumped, accepting his leader's words. Deep down, he was a little offended that Artemis hadn't even asked h-them for help, or at least Ollie. She had the goddamn Batman on her side, how card could nailing her father be?

Robin was leaning on the doorway, lost in his own thoughts. Kaldur had the leadership decked, Wally was moping, and M'gann was spending time with Connor in his room, Artemis's betrayal had touched her the worst. Therefore, Robin was wondering about that strange letter.

He'd been with Batman when he investigated it. No fingerprints, no special kind of paper, not even a smudge of the ink to at least see if the writer was right-handed or not. Nothing. It was as if a ghost had written it and magically slipped it in their slot; the security cameras hadn't detected anyone suspicious.

Robin frowned. This was worrisome.

Kaldur went to get some air. Having to be the one rational-thinking adult in this situation was strenuous on the mind, and Robin, the other logical mind, sure didn't seem like he was going to say anything.

However, he froze as he saw another envelope lying right by the door to the living room, where they had been talking.

All senses went to alert, and he quickly scanned his surroundings, checking for any traces of the sender.

It hadn't been there two hours ago.

_M'gann, come in. M'gann._

Kaldur tried to focus his thoughts to the telepath, something they'd been practicing for a long time now. So far, he was the only one able to concentrate enough for it to work.

He let some of his anxiety leak through his mind; M'gann was very sensitive to emotions and more likely to receive his messages that way.

_**Aqualad? Is everything okay? **_Her response finally found its way to his mind, making him feel like his thoughts were exposed. He swallowed his own fretting, there was no time for that now.

_M'gann, did you or Connor by any chance leave mail in front of the living room door?_

_**No, we've just been up here. Why? It's not…? Another one?**_

Kaldur immediately felt her worry seep into his mind and mix with his own, a milkshake of concern and wariness.

_I fear so. Maybe you should come down here._

He didn't mention it to her directly, but he felt better if they were all together on one place.

No one on his team was going to be caught unaware by this mysterious postman.

He finally picked the letter up, carefully, and flipper it over.

If his stomach had twisted when he first glimpsed it, it was nothing compared to how he felt when he saw his own name on the front of the envelope.

M'gann and Connor had wasted no time in hurrying downstairs, surprising Wally and Robin with their sudden arrival. Connor's face looked maybe a bit angrier tan usual, but M'gann let her own anxiety shine through every gesture she made.

"Where is it? Where did it come from? I mean, did you hear anything or see anyone or-"

Kaldur stopped her rambling with a shake of his head. "Nothing. It just appeared."

Wally and Robin looked at each other before looking at Kaldur. "What? What appeared?" The ginger asked, his raven-haired friend content with just sending a questioning glare through his sunglasses.

Kaldur sighed. _I complained about others keeping information from us; there is no way I can not tell them._

Instead of directly telling, he simply placed the envelope on the table in front of them.

Wally gasped and picked it up, Robin making his way over right away. Both of them peered at it as if they could see through it with their naked (well, not naked in Robin's case) eyes alone.

Connor, growing anxiously impatient, shuffled on his feet. "Are you going to open it?" he growl-muttered in his usual tone.

Kaldur nodded once, though not seeming very determined. "I have no secrets to hide. I do not see the difference it makes."

He tore it open with no tenderness; this kind of letter caused Artemis to be exposed, he was not going to show any respect.

Inside was a piece of paper, just like in Artemis's own letter. No photograph was inside, however. Only the small envelope-sized white slate.

_Aqua eyes, aqua eyes_

_will you not go back?_

_I think you should hurry_

_Into the sea, so black_

_sit on some seaweed _

_breathe with your gills_

_and watch very helpless_

_the red water spills._

He frowned, read over it again, and frowned more. There was nothing discriminating here, no secrets spilled, no revealing information. Just a strange poem again.

He passed it over to M'gann, who read it and turned just as confused as he felt himself.

"I don't get it. What's this mean?" she squeaked, and Conner moved a bit closer, feeling the distress radiating from her.

Wally zipped over and took the letter, reading it in super speed. He scratched the back of his head, holding it for Robin who had been trying to read over his shoulder. "No idea. I say this is just some loony who's freaking us out." Wally said with fake cheeriness, obviously a bit disturbed. Robin didn't seem to get it either, as he only shook his head when Kaldur looked at him.

The merboy couldn't help but feel even more anxious. He wanted to believe this was just meant to fool with his mind, he really did. But Artemis's letter had lead to something far more serious than confusion, so who was to say his wouldn't? Just because they had yet to figure it out.

Robin finally spoke after a long silence.

"I think we should contact Batman."

More research lead to nothing. The letter was clean of any evidence save from their own fingerprints.

Flash was standing next to Batman, having tagged along 'just cause I'm bored'. It didn't take a detective to realize he was worried for his nephew.

In fact, J'onn had been more present in Mt. Justice as well, and even Batman seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on his protégé. Well, to those who knew him well enough, that was no surprise.

Kaldur wondered where his own mentor was. He was no child and certainly didn't need to be looked after, but that hadn't stopped his King thus far.

"Martian Manhunter." Kaldur said to the green man in a hushed voice. To Kaldur, he was the most approachable of their mentors besides his own, calm and collected. The Flash was a bit too hyped up for his taste, Superman struck him as a bit -not that he'd ever say so out loud- clueless. Black Canary was very understanding and motherly, but not there at the moment. Batman was, of course, plain intimidating.

The Martian turned to Aqualad. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could call the King for me. My ways of reaching him aren't as fast as your communicators." J'onn nodded understandingly and took up his communicator. "Aquaman? Come in, Aquaman. Your apprentice wishes to speak to you."

Kaldur stood patiently by. After all, reaching to a city under the sea wasn't easy, was it?

J'onn, however, didn't seem to be as confident."Aquaman? Aquaman, are you there? Answer please."

Nothing. J'onn frowned, and shook his head at the boy waiting. "He does not answer. Odd, he rarely takes his communicator off his person.." Kaldur's eyes narrowed.

_Aqua eyes, aqua eyes_

What if something had happened? But, no, the guards were very loyal to their king.

And it was possible that there was just bad connection, or maybe he really had left his communicator somewhere.

It wasn't like Kaldur to be paranoid, but he still filled with dread as he thought back to the letter.

What if it wasn't just a prank or a discrimination;

What if it was a threat?

_Will you not go back?_

"I have to go see him, sir. Sorry, but I really must speak to him." Kaldur met the eyes of J'onn, who merely nodded. "But you shall not go alone. I will send for Red Tornado to accompany you."

Kaldur nodded and walked hastily to get his weapons.

Better safe than sorry.

Once into the depths of the sea, Aqualad calmed considerably. Here, he was at his best. This was where he had advantage to others. And if it came to it, he would gladly let his life for his king.

Strangely enough, he didn't see many fish swimming nearby; in fact, things were strangely…dead.

Red Tornado touched his shoulder, and pointed upwards where the sun barely shone through the ocean's surface.

Upon looking, Kaldur felt his stomach churn. Floating above them were multiple fishes, every single one of them dead. A flock of seagulls hungrily dove in here and there, eager to take advantage of the deaths.

Kaldur paid no heed to his follower and swam as fast as he could back to the palace.

_I think you should hurry, into the sea, so black _

If he could, he would have stopped dead in his tracks upon reaching the outskirts of the city, but doing so was difficult when your feet were floating.

Instead, he slowed his swimming to a stop and took in the horrific sight before him.

Dozens of merpeople were floating, marring just above the crumbled remains of their homes. A sickening red cloud had formed beneath them, smothering the marble city in a fog of blood, mixing with the dirty, groggy sea where the dust of broken houses remained.

A corpse nearby them showed them a better view of just what had happened; a young woman's legs were torn off, the shinbone of the left one sticking out like a broken tooth from abused skin, and blistering red scorch marks covered her torso. Her eyes were wide open and unseeing, staring up into the shimmering surface. Her face frozen in everlasting terror.

"MY KING!" Kaldur called and tried to swim for the palace, but was stopped by red Tornado's steely hand.

"I will go in first, the assailant may still be in the city." Upon Kaldur's struggling, he added "your king would not have wanted you to come to harm." Kaldur stopped trying to get away, but could not tear his eyes way from what used to be his home.

_Sit on some seaweed, breathe with your gills_

He let himself sink to the bottom, almost wishing he could cry underwater.

_And watch very helpless _

_The red water spills._

* * *

><p><strong>Rhyme used: Curly locks, curly locks.<strong>

**Thanks to Freakingscarykid and Dark Goddess Of Shadows for encouraging me to continue.**


	3. Birds of a feather

**Holy shit, I seriously just write four and a half pages?**

**Sorry this took so long, the internet is being a bitch and I couldn't look up a lot of the things I needed.**

**WARNING: this chapter has some slightly brutal descriptions. Those not ready for that or who don't approve; I suggest you stop reading this fic as of now, as it'll probably only get worse.**

Robin's nimble fingers worked furiously at the small, custom-made keyboard. He was almost surprised his hands stayed so small and bony, what with all the work he made them do. His fingers should be as masculine as Kaldur by now.

Briefly entertained by the thought of Kaldur-fingers, he chuckled, but caught himself in the middle of it and stopped, discreetly looking over his shoulder.

All of them had been on edge since the Letters, with a capital L for stressing.

And who wouldn't? There was a goddamn killer out for their heads. Well, most likely. So far, it had been discriminating Artemis (_Don't trust people, Robin, you know it's not worth it, they'll just take advantage of you, you should know that by now you stupid idiot_), and -for some odd reason- going crazy on Kaldur's home. That one was still a mystery to even Robin, and he was an excellent crime-solver, thank you very much. In Artemis's case, it could have been out of hatred for her or her dad; god knew they had plenty of enemies from both good and bad sides, or it could have been made to help the league, granted that whoever had sent the letter thought she was an actual threat to their guild.

But sabotaging an entire underwater city? How did they even do that?

Aside from the bombs, of course. Yes, it didn't take long for Red Tornado to see the obvious remnants of powerful underwater bombs. Not to mention the bits and pieces of people floating around, burnt by the smoldering sea or pierced by the leftovers of the bombs, specifically designed to explode violently enough for someone to die from just the flying metal, or in some cases both. They'd counted 27 bodies, and that was excluding the ones who were buried under beautiful marble rubble or simply in too small pieces to be counted. Around 60 had gotten away, managed to swim for it or conveniently been away at the time. The creepy thing was, it probably wasn't luck; those bombs weren't meant to annihilate everyone, just destroy and kill as much as needed. If this person wanted to kill them all, he would have.

Kaldur hadn't been the same after, and of course he wouldn't. That was his home; those were his family. Merpeople's bonds were very strong.

The biggest question remained; why? Why would someone go directly for Kaldur like that? Robin had suggested a race problem, appalling M'gann who still didn't have a clear concept of human tendencies.

Maybe it was an enemy that seriously had it in for them? He couldn't think of anyone as powerful as this as of yet. No one rich and insane enough was that creepy, and no one that creepy and insane was rich enough.

Both were insane, though. Definitely insane.

Robin almost felt bad about thinking it, but he couldn't help but deem himself pretty safe from this Mr. Letters. He, himself, had no secrets to hide, except for maybe his identity, and revealing that really had no purpose. And were someone to go after Bruce, who was pretty much his only family, or Alfred, who was like Bruce's father? Robin pitied them if they thought they could get away with something like messing with the Bat-family.

And his teammates, who were really his only friends, were under a very strict surveillance from everyone in the Justice League. They kept their Coms on at all times, and never left the house unless everyone was aware of it.

A slight ding -a custom tune, of course- sounded from the precise speakers of his laptop, waking him from his ponderings. One new e-mail acquired.

Robin opened it without hesitation, wondering what it was about. Batman usually contacted him through his holo-watch, so probably not him. Wally, maybe? That idiot kept sending him videos and pictures he found on the internet. He was almost as bad as M'gann, who kept sending him pictures of cute kittens or ducklings. Robin always felt kind of bad for not answering, but the girl honestly did not get the message.

The screen went blank for a short millisecond before showing Robin's inbox.

…Odd, he was unfamiliar with the address.

…And he had a special filter that only allowed his personal contacts to message him directly.

Robin's heartbeat paced a little as he moved his cursor over the e-mail, entitled ':blank:', and clicked.

Sender: unknown

Subject: none

Message:

_check your backdoor_

Oh hell to the no.

Robin sprinted outside right away, his panic driving him to move his legs too fast for his body, too fast for him to comprehend; he tripped in the hallway and fell face first on the floor.

Oh, who am I kidding?

He tripped, did a backflip and rolled into a graceful stop. It was Robin after all.

_I shouldn't rush. What if it's a trap? Calm, Robin, calm._

He got up and strolled casually -maybe a bit too casually- the rest of the hallway. The backdoor….there were at least six or seven entrances to the mountain, and it was a goddamn mountain for heaven's sake; it was round. There was no backside.

_Dude, meet me out back!_

_What out back? Wally, there are so many entrances to this mountain M'gann had a hard time counting. Just tell me what number._

_No, you know, out back, like…that door that lies to practically nowhere and has no scenery? That's the back from now on._

It was possible, but how? How would this guy know that? There was no way. No way whatsoever. He wouldn't even waste his time by checking.

Out back is was.

Upon arriving at the door, Robin could easily justify Wally's dubbing. This door would definitely qualify for a back door, it was only there because a fire exits was required for each section, for obvious security reasons, but it hadn't been used even once. That was also the reason there was only a very rickety old ladder going way down the mountainside.

_See? There was no way he could have known._

Robin let the gentle sea breeze rake through his hair, whip the short and precise tangles around and mess up his normally very gelled 'do.

When he moved to close the door, he saw a letter stuck to it.

_No. Fucking no! How the hell would he even manage this? _

Robin furiously tore the letter off and intended to tear it open just as furiously, but ended up carefully and warily opening it. Whatever was in there was bad news, but what could have happened? If someone in the team had been attacked, he'd heard of it by now.

Inside the envelope was, predictably, a letter.

Birds of a feather flock together

The screaming makes your hair curl

Jokers and Jacks will travel in packs

So keep an eye on your girl

Girl? What girl? Robin's computer-like mind scanned every female he knew. Artemis; safe in the Justice League headquarters, possibly at Green Arrow's place. Unlikely.

M'gann; outside with Connor for a ride on his pet/bike/companion. Superboy would rather kill himself than let anything happen to her. Impossible.

Wally's mom; protected by Barry. Impossible for same reasons as above.

Was there anyone else? Robin didn't think so. He breathed a sigh of relief; only to have it hitch in his throat as an uncomfortable sensation seized his stomach.

Zatanna.

ZATANNA.

His exterior mask slipped, as in the facial trained one, not the actual mask covering his eyes, and he ran right back down the hallway, his mind already on the giant screens of the communication room.

When he finally arrived after what seems to be way too long, his fingers itched to start typing the code needed to contact the Zatara residence. Yes, Robin wasn't meant to know how to contact them because hey, secret identities and all, but he was the protégé of the goddamn Batman, of course he knew everything about everyone.

The screen flickered to life, blinking like a drowsy infant, and Robin started a video-call right away. Even if Robin couldn't see anything on it as of yet (the thing was being unusually slow, but no time to think about that), he could hear someone on the other end.

"Zatanna? Is that you? Listen, I think you might be in trouble, you know the…" Robin drifted off, peering at the screen some more. Still there was no response from the other participant's webcam, but he could definitely hear someone….huffing. Muttering something incoherent, but in a male voice. And whimpering, and-

A blood-curdling scream resounded from the speakers, shaking Robin to his very bones. That was Zatanna's voice.

And the screaming didn't stop; it just kept on, and on, sometimes interrupted with pleading, begging, and whimpers of pain when something big and hard struck her, again and again, without mercy. The whump of skin and muscle being beaten sounded in rhythm with grunts and choked sobs, and an occasional squelch of fluids, vomit or blood, or both.

Robin had lived through some intense things. He was probably more scarred mentally than physically, and that was saying something.

But he'd rather let himself get frozen through by Captain Cold than to hear this.

He startled at the unfamiliar touch of a hand on his shoulder, having completely lost himself to panicked thoughts. His trained ears could hear that this was probably a recording, judging from the relentlessness of the sounds that were now dying down; the screams had subsided, leaving only the whacks still raining down on a lifeless body.

He turned around a bit too fast, sending the hand swiveling to the side to land on the owner's side.

"Dude, what the fuck was that?" Robin's mind vaguely registered the short-but-somehow-still-wild red hair and freckles of Wally, as well as the obvious what-the-fuckness in his eyes. M'gann was hovering on his side, eyes wide in horror. "I heard someone scream, and then when I was going to come down here I sensed a lot of fear and bad emotions and then you wouldn't answer, even when Wally talked to you, but Robin what _happened_?"

_Oh shit what the hell am I doing spacing out like that no M'gann not right now and you too Wally please shut up I shouldn't be here I have to go!_

Robin thought those things, but all that came out was "Batman. Shit, I need to talk to the Justice League."

Not ten minutes later, Robin was in the Bioship, on his way to the Zatara house, despite all rules of no contact in RL. This was an exception.

Apparently, Zatara was away on a personal mission, one he was very discreet about, and Zatanna had been left alone in her house for the day.

Batman had warned him not to come. He told them to 'stay put', like always, because frankly what they would see would undoubtedly be bad. But Robin felt that strange urge to go anyway, because the letter was for him and therefore was very much so his business. So he, Connor, Wally, Kaldur and M'gann went behind the League's backs for the umpteenth time.

The house was a mess. Robin could deduct the interior decorating from what he'd seen of the Zatara's personalities; very prim and proper, everything in its place, but also a lot of things with no practical use, such as wind chimes, paintings or statues.

Now, it was mainly just mess. Obviously some serious fight had gone on, most likely involving Zatanna's magic, if the flung sofa and a random kitchen counter, placed awkwardly on the middle of the floor.

And there, on top of the stairs, a heap of tangled, black hair and velvet pajamas, as it was meant to be the center of attention. Blood practically was rivuleting down the steps, curling and dripping like obscene finger-painting, contrasting bizarrely with the white marble. How was there even that much blood?

He made a move to go to her, shake her awake, maybe reveal that this was just one of her magic clones and not really the only girl to ever catch his eye, but something held him back.

Did he want to see? Did he want to ruin the hope of this being an illusion and face the truth that his almost-friend was dead?

"Robin, you do not have to go up there if you fear you cannot handle it. Batman will be here soon, I am certain he will take care of things…"

And that sent Robin running up the stairs. If he didn't see it for himself, he would never be able to grasp the concept.

Big mistake.

Robin gasped audibly as he got to the top, seeing the mess of a dead girl face-down on the floor, arms awkwardly down by her sides, like she had put up no fight while being placed there - or had already been dead in the process. A trail of sickening red lead into one of the rooms by the corridor on the left, a few bloody handprints on the wall, much too big to be hers.

Robin spun her around to check for a pulse, even if he knew there was no way someone who'd lost that much blood was alive.

This time, the gasp turned into a scream.

Her face…the face Robin had thought of one more than one occasion, the one he liked quite a lot and could definitely consider seeing more… it was mutilated.

Her mouth hung open, revealing nothing but bloody gums and the few teeth that were left, once so amazingly white but now stained orange with blood. Her nose wasn't even there anymore. There was just a bulge of broken bones, smashed cartilage and meat. Someone had beaten her face in until it was unrecognizable, to a point where her left eye wasn't visible behind the purple and black, puffy eyelid, and the right one had rolled back into the corner of her eye, displaying mostly the white and the blotted red of veins.

There was nothing right about her anymore. Her eyes were wrong, her nose were wrong, her lips were wrong, the gnarled, twisted fingers were wrong in all the wrong ways, and her hip jutted out where it shouldn't.

Robin, the son of Batman, a superhero but still just a kid, fainted.

He would have dropped down the stairs had Aqualad, who had followed Robin after he took off, not caught him in the nick of time. The force needed to grab Robin by the cape, however, jolted the mangled corpse into falling down the stairs, a dull, lifeless thump sounding in each stop.

It landed right in front of Wally and Connor, who had stayed downstairs, with M'gann still in the bioship (she didn't trust herself to come in, and Connor had glared so ferociously at everyone, warning them to not dare to urge her otherwise. Not that they ever would have), landing on the back with the remains of her face turned towards them.

Wally let out a choked exhale, stabling himself on an overturned table before running outside to throw up.

Connor stared, unable to tear away from the horrific sight before him, like his eyes were stuck in a spiderweb and couldn't break free.

Eventually, as his mind caught up with him, he was suddenly struck with utter terror, somehow expecting the body to run at him or scream or somehow do something corpses should not do. He stumbled backwards into the open living room, tripping on a chair and falling flat on his ass.

On his left, he noticed, were shoes.

Shoes that did not belong there.

And, following the shoes, there were legs, a torso, arms, and a not-so familiar, painted face that jerked him into a fighting stance nonetheless.

"Aqualad! Wally!" Connor called out, not daring to look away from the Joker for one second. The Joker did however seem oddly…docile. As if he didn't realize where he was. He didn't even look at Connor, only stared at the floor between his feet, hands clasped together, elbows resting on his knees.

Wally was at his side in a second, screeching to a halt when he saw the fiend. Aqualad came soon as well, carrying Robin the best he could.

At that moment, the Justice League members rushed in, startled when they saw the kids, then rushed again as they saw the Joker. Flash stepped in front of his nephew and his team protectively, while Batman almost snatched Robin from Aqualad, who knew better than to object. Batman was a scary man at best, but now he looked positively frightening.

Batman stared at the Joker for a while, going way above his usual bat-glare. He turned to Martian Manhunter and held Robin out. "Take. Care. Of him." No more words were needed for the green man, and he quickly took the boy outside, trying to wake his mind.

When they were gone, Batman turned to the Joker once again, ignoring Flash's warning 'Bats'.

"What did you do." When there was no answer, he tried again, louder. "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO TO THEM?" Wally jumped and squeaked, not at all used to the brooding bat even raising his voice, never mind roar like that, and even Connor flinched.

The Joker, however, just lazily looked up with glazed eyes.

"Didn't touch your boy, Batsie. The girl, that was my work."

He aid it with such utter apathy, every single person in the room was close to jumping at him, intentions definitely not of the good kind, but were stopped as he spoke again."You can take me to jail if you want. Hell, I want to go to jail; I'd kiss alla your boots if that's what it takes to get me to Arkham." His speech was slurred, suggesting he was either drugged or had some severe head trauma. Either way, it was a little scary.

"He told me to. That man with the letters and the poems. Told me to kill her, told me to use her father's own walking stick instead of just a gun." When he got no response, he sighed irritably. "I confessed, right? Hurry up and get me to prison."

"Why are you giving up just like that?" Green Lantern asked, trying to keep his voice below shouting lever but only just managing it.

The Joker looked them all in the eye, stopping on Batman. He didn't look at Green Lantern, but instead stared intently into Batman's eyes as he answered.

"Because whatever you schmucks do to me, it'll only be half of what the man with the letterswill."

**This was such a bother to write. I kept accidentally switching to present tense, and unconsciously sneaking in jokes and light descriptions. **

**Anyway, dun dun dun, the dark darkens.**


End file.
